Stumped: Cricket in Art History
by Kim Gurney
Media interest in cricket might be on the wane now that the World Cup has drawn to a close. But cricket has lost none of its historical appeal for artists, according to art theorist and curator Andrew Lamprecht. The crucial difference is that images of cricket were in the past associated with English gentry and used to reaffirm concomitant notions of 'fair play�. Today, such images are instead more often used to question those very connotations, according to Lamprecht.
His lecture last week - part of the lunchtime series at Cape Town�s Michaelis School of Fine Art - examined the long history of representations of the game in art. In particular, it showed how the meanings conveyed mostly through paintings of cricket had subtly changed over time to the modern day. Yet throughout this evolution, cricket was always associated with the values of the English establishment.
Artists like Turner, Joseph Wright of Derby and William Blake all used images of cricket to support this view. Lamprecht said: "It was all about power and how it is represented through the male line and through land. By showing cricket, what is presented is this idea that a fair game is being played here."
Contemporary artists still draw on such notions. But according to Lamprecht, they often do so in fresh ways that subvert the context and thereby create new meaning. Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco, for example, used cricket references in a 1995 installation to help deconstruct the post-colonial nature of society. His works, displayed in London�s disused Devonshire gentleman�s club, dealt with issues of relevance to the building itself.
Consequently, they included altered cricket photographs and captions from those broadsheet newspapers favoured by the club�s typically conservative readers. He also built a model cricket game with surreal adjustments to the out-fielders who sprouted trees from their backs. In this way, Orozco played into the long tradition of cricketers supposedly being at one with nature while simultaneously critiquing the 'fair play� notion and suggesting encroaching chaos.
Lamprecht also focused on ex-Michaelis student Zen Marie�s cricket images. In one recent video project, Marie staged a match at the UCT grounds that replicated a real game. But it had two major exceptions: each team had just one player and the audience was absent.
The video footage of this match is currently being edited with only the dead action preserved. Lamprecht said: "In my opinion, it is a critique of colonialism and its relationship to cricket. He creates images of the game which show the absurdity of it."
Wednesday March 19
Michaelis Lecture Theatre, Michaelis School of Fine Art, 31-37 Orange Street,
Cape Town
For further details of the next lecture, check our listing page or contact Lisa Essex at Michaelis on Tel: 021. 480-7111 or Email:
